Hubble mosaic reveals Crab Nebula in new detail

Astronomers have combined two dozen Hubble Space Telescope images to produce the highest-resolution view ever made of the Crab Nebula. The nebula is the expanding remnant of a supernova that exploded nearly 1000 years ago, as seen from Earth.

It was created when a massive star ran out of nuclear fuel and blasted its outer layers into space - these appear in the image as orange filaments that stretch about 6 light years across.

At the same time, its inner core collapsed into a dense, rapidly spinning neutron star. This star generates magnetic fields that accelerate electrons to nearly the speed of light, creating a bluish glow near the centre of the remnant.

The supernova that formed the Crab Nebula is one of only a handful of such explosions that have been seen in our Milky Way galaxy. Chinese astronomers recorded the blast on 4 July 1054. It was about four times brighter than Venus and for three weeks could even be seen during the day.

It was dubbed the "Crab Nebula" by Irish astronomer Lord Rosse in 1844, who mistakenly believed it was a star cluster when he observed it with a 90-centimetre reflecting telescope.

The individual Hubble images were taken with the telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in 1999 and 2000.

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This mosaic image of the 6-light-year-wide Crab Nebula is one of the largest ever taken by Hubble - the orange filaments are the tattered remains of a star that blew up nearly 1000 years ago (Image: NASA/ESA/J Hester/A Loll/ASU)